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Effects of Direct Instruction in Spanish Phonology on the Native-Language Skills and Foreign-Language Aptitude of At-Risk Foreign-Language Learners

Leonore Ganschow is a professor of special education at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. Her research interests are in oral and written language acquisition and second-language learning.

Richard Sparks

Richard Sparks is an associate professor of education at the College of Mt. St. Joseph in Cincinnali and has a private diagnostic practice as an educational consultant. His research interests are in oral and written language acquisition and second-language learning. Address: Leonore Ganschow, Department of Educational Psychology, Miami University, Oxford, OH 45056.

This study examined the effect of an academic year of direct instruction in the phonology/orthography of Spanish on the native-language skills and foreign-language aptitude of high school women identified as at risk (n = 14) and not at risk (n = 19) for experiencing problems with learning a foreign language. At-risk students received a specialized teaching approach; not-at-risk students received traditional foreign-language instruction. Pre- and posttest results showed that both groups improved significantly on a foreign-language aptitude test, and the at-risk group made significant gains on native-language phonology/orthography measures. Pretest comparisons showed significant between-group differences on several phonological/orthographic measures and the foreign-language aptitude test. Posttest comparisons showed that the not-at-risk subjects still scored significantly higher than at-risk subjects on the foreign-language aptitude measure; no differences were noted on two native-language phonological/orthographic measures. Pre- and posttest comparisons between groups showed that the at-risk group made significantly greater gains than the not-at-risk group on phonological/orthographic measures. Implications for instruction are presented.

Journal of Learning Disabilities, Vol. 28, No. 2, 107-120 (1995)
DOI: 10.1177/002221949502800205


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